Pastoral Helps
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Discipleship Is A Journey
$15.00Add to cartAutumn Light Publications
Christian Discipleship is the outward expression of the relationship which baptism has restored. It is the deep, abiding friendship between God and one who has chosen to accept His gift of salvation. In practice, discipleship is the earnest attempt to become like Christ, doing everything possible to LEARN what Christ wants His followers to do AND then trying to DO it. Discipleship is a Journey is an activity-based study guide created to help young believers to understand what is meant by discipleship and what they should do to grow in their new relationship with Jesus. The book can be used independently by the young person to have fun as he learns more about being a disciple or it can be used as a tool in a church’s mentoring plan for their young believers. The content is broken into five sections, focusing on: understanding the new role as a Christian, understanding and using resources that God provides, understanding the role of worship in a Christian’s life, understanding the role of service in a Christian’s life, and understanding that discipleship is a lifelong journey.
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What The Bible Says To The Minister (Student/Study Guide)
$34.99Add to cartGod has called you into ministry…now what? The Bible is full of wisdom, instruction, and sage advice for the minister on every topic, including: Your Calling, Your Purpose, Your Mission, Security In Christ, Your Family and Relationships, Your Daily Walk, Preaching and Teaching, Your Reward, and over 100 other topics! What the Bible Says to the Minister is a cherished resource for pastors and ministers all over the world. Available in 12 languages, this handbook is one that pastors return to over and over again as they seek to fulfill their call to serve God.
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Who Lynched Willie Earle
$19.99Add to cartPastors and leaders long to speak an effective biblical word into the contemporary social crisis of racial violence and black pain. They need a no-nonsense strategy rooted in actual ecclesial life, illuminated in this fine book by a trustworthy guide, Will Willimon, who uses the true story of pastor Hawley Lynn’s March of 1947 sermon, “Who Lynched Willie Earle?” as an opportunity to respond to the last lynching in Greenville, South Carolina and its implications for a more faithful proclamation of the Gospel today. By hearing black pain, naming white complicity, critiquing American exceptionalism/civil religion, inviting/challenging the church to respond, and attending to the voices of African American pastors and leaders, this book helps pastors of white, mainline Protestant churches preach effectively in situations of racial violence and dis-ease.
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Integrative Psychotherapy : Toward A Comprehensive Christian Approach
$45.99Add to cart12 Chapters
Additional Info
Mark McMinn and Clark Campbell present an integrative model of psychotherapy that is grounded in Christian biblical and theological teaching and in a critical and constructive engagement with contemporary psychology.Now in paperback, this foundational work integrates behavioral, cognitive, and interpersonal models of therapy within a Christian theological framework. Not only do the authors integrate Christian faith and spirituality with the latest thinking in behavioral science at a theoretical level, they also integrate the theoretical and academic with the pastoral and clinical, offering a practical guide for the practitioner.
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Journey To The Pulpit
$13.95Add to cartMy parents love their pastor, but they rarely get much from his sermons. Sound familiar?
Why live with word salad, rabbit trails and bouncing around like a ball in a pin ball machine when you can work smarter, not harder.Frank pastors a country church. His positive attitude and effective preaching create an air of expectation for something great each week. As a multi-vocational pastor he rarely experiences the Saturday night panic and arrives at the pulpit ready to preach.
George, a loner, also pastors a country church. The services are lack luster, he is approaching burn out and he questions his call to a pulpit ministry. George just toughs it out thinking it to be more godly. Saturday night is repetitively panic time and Sunday often brings excuses. George does not understand that he might need more preparation than does his sermons.
What makes the difference?Frank recognized his need for help, and found a mentor. He learned to establish the purpose of the sermon first, match it with divine inspiration and have others help gather materials. This reduced preparation time, balanced his work schedule, family time, self-care and sermon preparation. By working on his illustrations and delivery, he could take a lesser quality sermon and turn it into a great event.
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Holding Up Your Corner
$17.99Add to cartHolding Up Your Corner: Talking About Race in Your Community, equips pastors to respond with confidence when crises occur, lower their own inhibitions about addressing this topic, and reclaim their authority as prophetic witnesses and leaders in order to transform their communities Pastors and other church leaders see, to varying degrees, racially rooted injustice in their communities. Most of them understand an imperative, as part of their calling from God, to lead their congregations to address and reverse this injustice. For instance, preachers want to be preaching prophetically on this topic. But the problems seem irreversible, intractable, overwhelming, and pastors often feel their individual efforts will be futile. Additionally, they realize that there is a lot of risk involved, including the possibility that their actions may offend and even push some members away from the church. They do not know what to do or how to begin. And so, even during times of crisis, pastors and other church leaders typically do less than they know they could and should. This book provides practical, foundational guidance, showing pastors how to live into their calling to address injustice, and how to lead others to do the same. Holding Up Your Corner prompts readers to observe, identify and name the complex causes of violence and hatred in the reader’s particular community, including racial prejudice, entrenched poverty and exploitation, segregation, the loss of local education and employment, the ravages of addiction, and so on. The book walks the church leader through a self-directed process of determining what role to play in the leader’s particular location. Readers will learn to use testimony and other narrative devices, proclamation, guided group conversations, and other tactics in order to achieve the following: Open eyes to the realities in the reader’s community-where God’s reign/kingdom is not yet overcoming selfishness, injustice, inequality, or the forces of evil. Own the calling and responsibility we have as Christians, and learn how to advocate hope for God’s kingdom in the reader’s community. Organize interventions and activate mission teams to address the specific injustices in the reader’s community.
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Serving Local Schools
$22.99Add to cartThe heartbeat of every local community is found in its local schools. Yet many churches have little to no connection with school leaders, much less an active ministry presence. But if the church wants to effectively reach its community, it must take the time to invest in school administrators, teachers, and families. Not having a relationship just isn’t an option.
Thankfully, there are new opportunities where schools and churches can work together for the common good of students and the community. Many schools today are facing budget crises’ and financial shortfalls or declining enrollment. Few church leaders know how to walk through the doors of their local school and partner in a sustainable way. Some are worried about crossing the line of separation between church and state, while others just aren’t sure what they have to offer.
This book tells the story of churches that have overcome these barriers, providing biblical support and practical resources to equip churches to meet the needs of local schools while faithfully witnessing to the good news found in Jesus Christ.
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Ethics In Christian Ministry
$16.99Add to cartPastoring is packed with unexpected challenges-both good and bad. Improvising in the face of the unforeseen is often the norm. But like talented athletes and great jazz musicians, improvisation for pastors only comes by first knowing and practicing the basics. Ethics in Christian Ministry is about preparing for the highs and lows of ministry by internalizing and rehearsing the ethical essentials of Christ-centered pastoring. Here is a resource designed to equip pastors with the tools needed to make healthy and theologically sound ethical decisions in the areas of communication, relationships, preaching, counseling, and finances. With such preparation in hand, responding to the unexpected becomes about well-grounded decision-making that leads to the best in pastoral practices.
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Cherish Study Guide (Student/Study Guide)
$12.99Add to cartMost married couples survive by gritting their teeth and holding on. But what if husbands sought to truly cherish their wives? What if in social settings they did their best to make sure she was heard? What if they supported her goals so she could work in her gifts? What if they bought the things she needed to open up her home and put the beauty of her hospitality on display? And what if wives adopted the same attitude? What if she made sure her husband knew she was his strongest supporter? What if she were willing to support him, stabilize him, bind up his wounds-spiritual and emotional-and turn him so his strongest side was always showing? What if she helped him risk failure out in the world because she made it known to him that he would always be her courageous champion? What would that do to him? For the relationship? In the Cherish Him, Cherish Her video-based study, bestselling author Gary Thomas shows how marriages can not only survive but also thrive when husbands and wives learn to cherish one another. How we can go from neglect and disrespect to cherish and adore. How we can send our marriages into a different dimension. How we can recalibrate our marriages when needed so we don’t suffer from apathy, indifference, and gradual drift. None of us want marriages where we grit our teeth and just tolerate each other because God’s Word says we don’t qualify for divorce. We don’t want marriages where our spouses really don’t like us, much less respect us. We want to be married to someone we cherish and who cherishes us, and it is possible to get to that point.
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Wounded In The Church Participants Guide With DVD (Student/Study Guide)
$19.99Add to cartChurch should be a safe place, right? Then why do so many get hurt there?
Ray Beeson and Chris Hayward combine their years of ministry experience to address head-on the elephant in the room: church members and church leaders hurt Christians. All the time. And the long-lasting effects–rejection, shame, despair, loneliness, fear–can be devastating. The authors have witnessed the rise of the “dones,” those who are just done with God thanks to scars from church. With first-person stories of hurt and loss, Wounded in the Church is a wake-up call for any who deny woundedness in the church but is also a redemptive message for any who hurt from church wounds.
The Participant’s Guide for Wounded in the Church contains eight sessions based on the contents of the book, and includes questions for discussion and personal reflection for each session, as well as key Scriptures, quotes to ponder, and a closing prayer. In the companion DVD, Ray and Chris introduce each of the eight sessions. Their fresh content and personal appeal make this an ideal aid for group leaders and participants.
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Keeping Faith In Fundraising
$21.99Add to cartA biblically grounded call for Christians to engage in fundraising as ministry
Fundraising has always been an essential element of the Christian life-churches, schools, and many other organizations rely on it to function. But it is a risky enterprise, fraught with questions and challenges. How can Christians raise funds with integrity?
In this book Peter Harris and Rod Wilson, experienced fund-raisers themselves, bring fundraising within the scope of normal Christian life and work. After first laying a biblical foundation by discussing 2 Corinthians 8-9, Harris and Wilson develop seven themes central to the giving and receiving of money. They offer valuable insights based on their many years of fundraising as Christians.
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Restored Leader Guide (Teacher’s Guide)
$12.99Add to cartOften we make a mess of our lives and wonder if there is any redemption. In this six-week study, pastor and author Tom Berlin helps us see our mess through the eyes of Christ to find redemption and restoration. Using Scripture, devotional tools, and the writings of Ignatius of Loyola, John of the Cross, St. Augustine, John Wesley, Evelyn Underhill, and others, Berlin encourages reflection and meditation through our own brokenness. Only then can we focus on the cross as the place where we truly surrender control, leave our mess, and find redemption. The Leader Guide contains everything needed to guide a group through the 6-week study for Lent, including session plans and discussion questions, as well as multiple format options.
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Restored : Finding Redemption In Our Mess
$15.99Add to cartOften we make a mess of our lives and wonder if there is any redemption. In this book, pastor and author Tom Berlin helps us see our mess through the eyes of Christ to find redemption and restoration. Using Scripture, devotional tools, and the writings of Ignatius of Loyola, John of the Cross, St. Augustine, John Wesley, Evelyn Underhill, and others, Berlin encourages reflection and meditation through our own brokenness. Only then can we focus on the cross as the place where we truly surrender control, leave our mess, and find redemption.
Chapters include:
This Is a Real Mess
Who Left This Mess?
Bless This Mess
No Messing Around
Address This Mess
The Message in the Mess -
Creed Youth Study Book (Student/Study Guide)
$12.99Add to cartWe’re all searching. Sometimes the search is easy: simply type a question and the answer pops up. But sometimes our questions are complicated, and the answers are difficult to see and harder to articulate. How do we discover and examine the truths that give meaning and purpose to life? Adam Hamilton believes that some powerful answers are contained in the Apostles’ Creed, an early statement of foundational Christian beliefs. In this six-week study for Lent, Easter, and beyond, Hamilton considers important questions of life, reality, and truth. He explores not only what Christians believe, but also why they believe it and why it matters. This Youth Study Book takes the ideas presented in Adam Hamilton’s book and interprets them for young people grades 6-12. Can be used with the adult-level DVD.
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Creed Leader Guide (Teacher’s Guide)
$12.99Add to cartWe’re all searching. Sometimes the search is easy: simply type a question and the answer pops up. But sometimes our questions are complicated, and the answers are difficult to see and harder to articulate. How do we discover and examine the truths that give meaning and purpose to life? Adam Hamilton believes that some powerful answers are contained in the Apostles’ Creed, an early statement of foundational Christian beliefs. In this six-week study for Lent, Easter, and beyond, Hamilton considers important questions of life, reality, and truth. He explores not only what Christians believe, but also why they believe it and why it matters. The Leader Guide contains everything needed to guide a group through the 6-week study for Lent and Easter, including session plans and discussion questions, as well as multiple format options.
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Creed : What Christians Believe And Why (Large Type)
$20.99Add to cartWe’re all searching. Sometimes the search is easy: simply type a question and the answer pops up. But sometimes our questions are complicated, and the answers are difficult to see and harder to articulate. How do we discover and examine the truths that give meaning and purpose to life? Adam Hamilton believes that some powerful answers are contained in the Apostles’ Creed, an early statement of foundational Christian beliefs. In this book for Lent, Easter, and beyond, Hamilton considers important questions of life, reality, and truth. He explores not only what Christians believe, but also why they believe it and why it matters. Chapters include: Is There a God? Jesus: More Than a Rabbi? The Holy Spirit: A Rushing Mighty Wind Death’s Funeral Holy? Catholic? Church? The Forgiveness of Sins The Resurrection of the Body Creed: What Christians Believe and Why is also part of a six-week church-wide program that includes a Leader Guide, DVD, and youth and children resources.
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Creed Childrens Leader Guide (Teacher’s Guide)
$18.99Add to cartWe’re all searching. Sometimes the search is easy: simply type a question and the answer pops up. But sometimes our questions are complicated, and the answers are difficult to see and harder to articulate. How do we discover and examine the truths that give meaning and purpose to life? Adam Hamilton believes that some powerful answers are contained in the Apostles’ Creed, an early statement of foundational Christian beliefs. In this six-week study for Lent, Easter, and beyond, Hamilton considers important questions of life, reality, and truth. He explores not only what Christians believe, but also why they believe it and why it matters. The Children’s Leader Guide contains session ideas for younger and older children, including games, activities, craft ideas, and reproducible handouts. Children are forming their own faith, and we can help shape it by looking at the beliefs contained in the Apostles’ Creed and presenting them in a way children can follow and enjoy.
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Singing Gods Psalms
$27.99Add to cartDrawing on his decades of experience as a pastor, hymn writer, and hymnal consultant, Fred Anderson here offers pastors and worship leaders a rich treasury of singable psalms – one for each psalm text or canticle appointed in the three-year Revised Common Lectionary.
Anderson renders each psalm into metered text, using contemporary, biblical, inclusive language, and suggests appropriate pairings with familiar hymn tunes. Short pastoral reflections on each psalm text provide background on what is being sung – and are also useful for sermon preparation and personal meditation.
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Visual Arts In The Worshiping Church
$31.99Add to cartAlthough numerous studies have examined biblical and theological rationales for using the visual arts in worship, this book by Lisa J. DeBoer fills in a piece of the picture missing so far – the social dimensions of both our churches and the various art worlds represented in our congregations.
The first part of the book looks at Orthodoxy, Catholicism, and Protestantism in turn – including case studies of specific congregations – showing how each tradition’s use of the visual arts reveals an underlying ecclesiology. DeBoer then focuses on six themes that emerge when Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant uses of the visual arts are examined together – the arts as expressions of the church’s local and universal character, the meanings attributed to particular styles of art for the church, the role of the arts in enculturating the gospel, and more.
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Unique Time Of God
$41.00Add to cartWorld War I changed Karl Barth’s theology forever. In this book William Klempa presents for the first time in English thirteen sermons that offer Barth’s unique view and commentary on the Great War. Barth saw the war as “a unique time of God,” believing it to represent God’s judgment on militarism. The sermons reveal a deep strain of theological wrestling with the war’s meaning, as Barth comes to see the conflict as the logical outcome of all human attempts to create God in our own image. As it demonstrates a decisive shift in Barth’s early theology, this volume is essential for anyone who wishes to understand the twentieth century’s greatest theologian.
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Breaking The Huddle
$20.99Add to cartMost Christians are stuck in the huddle. Even though we believe in outreach, our communities tend to focus on our own needs. That makes us into insular groups that don’t have many relationships with outsiders. So evangelism is occasional and conversions are rare. How do we change? In their groundbreaking I Once Was Lost, Don Everts and Doug Schaupp identified five thresholds that individuals move across from skeptics to followers. Now they and Val Gordon show how huddled communities can become witnessing communities. The authors have studied the growth of witnessing communities, what enhances and limits them, and have gathered best practices for transformation. Our churches and fellowships can become places where evangelism is not done by a just few people, but where the whole community itself becomes a winsome, thriving witness to those around it. Break out of the huddle. It’s time to get in the game.
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James 1 And 2 Peter And Jude
$30.00Add to cartFocused Biblical Scholarship to Teach the Text
To craft informed sermons, pastors scour commentaries that often deal more with minutia than the main point. Or they turn to devotional commentaries, which may contain exegetical weaknesses. The Teach the Text Commentary Series bridges this gap by utilizing the best of biblical scholarship and providing the information a pastor needs to communicate the text effectively. The carefully selected preaching units and focused commentary allow pastors to quickly grasp the big idea and key themes of each passage of Scripture. Each unit of the commentary includes the big idea and key themes of the passage and sections dedicated to understanding, teaching, and illustrating the text.The newest New Testament release in this innovative commentary series is Jim Samra’s treatment of James, 1 & 2 Peter, and Jude. -
Beyond Business As Usual (Expanded)
$25.95Add to cartThe revised and expanded edition will include new information, new teaching resources, and perspectives gained in the last eight years, as well as the General Convention resolutions of 2015. Beyond Business as Usual is full of resources for forming the vestry as a learning community. It deals with the “soft” side of leadership that enables the pastor and vestry together to journey along the leadership path. Each chapter can be read and reviewed at a series of vestry meetings or as part of a vestry retreat, and includes questions for group and individual discussion. The book also contains resources for vestries, based upon different preferred learning styles, for the formation part of the vestry meeting or retreat.
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Pattern Of Our Calling
$44.99Add to cartMinistry has always changed, adapting to time and place. But the pace of change has increased. There is a greater need for success and less tolerance of diversity. A few high-achievers hold up their heads whilst others struggle or wonder how to make sense of what feels like failure. Our theology is impoverished and we are so quick to adopt new models that we have forgotten our own past. This book explores the changing theologies of ministry during the church s history with the aim of challenging the lack of theological reflection in some of today s results-driven understanding of ministry that seems more influenced by the business world than by Christian theology and tradition. Setting out to explain why theologians said what they said about ministry, why it might matter, and why it might be exciting, David Hoyle covers nearly two thousand years of theological reflection from the Didache to Michael Ramsey and current writers, and provides a synthesis not found anywhere else. The book offers realistic sustenance to practitioners struggling with the new demands on clergy.
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Take The Flag (Large Type)
$14.99Add to cartThe purpose of this book is not to turn readers into race fans but to help them become stronger disciples of Jesus Christ by paying attention to the signals God gives us each day.
In this Bible -based, 7-week churchwide series, Fuquay uses the flags from auto racing as a way to discuss different aspects of our life of faith.
Green Flag (start) – How do we start our journey of faith?
Yellow Flag (caution) – The decisions we make can sometimes put us in danger. How do we learn to heed God’s caution?
Red Flag (delay) – Finishing well involves pit stops. How does God help us get the most our of these breaks?
Blue Flag (yield) – Each of us may run our own race, but we also need to respect others. How does God help us focus on others’ needs?
Black Flag (disqualification) – What happens when our own violations take us out of the race, and how does God help us get back in?
White Flag (final lap) – As we head toward the finish line, how do we steer according to God’s will?
Checkered Flag (victory) – If we persevere – navigating the hazards, managing the pit stops – then victory is ours. But how does God want us to experience victory?This book will captivate your congregation and engage them in an exciting adventure of spiritual growth.
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From Suriving To Thriving
$13.95Add to cartSome Chapters Included:
Stop Making Excuses And Start Doing Something
Get Your Church’s Financial House In Order
Reclaim Your Inactive Members
Reach The Unchurched In Your Community
Remove The Roadblocks That Impede Thriving
Expect God’s MiraclesAdditional Info
For years, Rev. Dr. John H. Krahn has been one of his denomination’s most successful interim pastors whom God has used to save many dying churches. He shares his proven methods for helping churches which are barely surviving to once again thrive. Whether your church is on life support or is doing quite well, this book shares ways and insights which will strengthen your church and its ministry. Unlike other books on church growth, From Surviving to Thriving — A Practical Guide to Revitalize Your Church, is a hands-on approach that will assist you and your church greatly. Dr. Krahn believes that no church should fail. He has written this book to help your church once again thrive.Inside you will find a good measure of practical advice, pressed down, shaken together and running over with experience and good sense. There are not many suggestions that cannot immediately be put into practice by pastors and members of congregations alike. Pastor Krahn has done what he recommends and seen the results of intentional missional ministry in more than one context. The book is overflowing with good stories and examples of excellent ministry. He draws richly from the pastoral imagination of other settings. We all know that the current culture does not necessarily support our congregational revitalization, but rather than simply analyze the situation and describe the problem, the author proposes concrete and effective practices in worship, finances, and programs that he has seen work. There are no silver bullets to address our challenges but a comprehensive approach including, among others, getting the church’s financial house in order, practicing good stewardship, developing a strategic plan and vision, marketing the church in new and old ways, and developing an evangelism program. Here is a book by a veteran pastor who knows how to revitalize a congregation that is long on hope and short on excuses.
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Preaching Christ From Psalms
$52.99Add to cartIn this final volume of his series on preaching Christ from the Old Testament, Sidney Greidanus offers expert guidance for busy pastors on preaching Christ from Psalms.
Beginning with a general introduction on how pastors can interpret and preach from the biblical psalms – and why they should – Greidanus proceeds by discussing twenty-two psalms in the Revised Common Lectionary, Year A, supplying the building blocks necessary to preach from Psalms at Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, and other major days and seasons of the church year. In addition to laying out basic homiletical-theological approaches suitable for each selected psalm, these chapters also provide verse-by-verse exposition, bridges to Christ in the New Testament, and ideas for placing the psalmist’s words into contemporary context.
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Way Of A Disciple
$19.99Add to cartThe Walking with God series was developed as the curriculum for small groups at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois. Since its release in 1992, it has been used by churches and small groups to help raise up devoted disciples of Christ. Group members who work through the program will lay a solid foundation for a lifelong walk with God.
While small groups may be formed for a variety of purposes, the goal of this curriculum is for groups to produce disciples-fully devoted followers of Christ-by studying God’s Word in community. To this end, the goal of the study is to produce disciples who walk with God, have a personal relationship with Jesus, and live in step with the Holy Spirit. It is also to produce believers who live the Word in all areas of life and contribute to the work that God is doing in the local church. Ultimately, the goal is to develop believers who impact the world and are prepared and eager to spread the good news of Christ to others.
This material will help develop these attributes in group members. Each lesson includes group Bible study and discussion questions in addition to devotions, reflections, and personal study for use by individuals between the group sessions.
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Polycentric Missiology : 21st Century Mission From Everyone To Everywhere
$26.99Add to cartThe Edinburgh 1910 World Missionary Conference was the most famous missions conference in modern church history. A century later, five conferences on five continents displayed the landscape of global mission at the dawn of the third millennium: Tokyo 2010, Edinburgh 2010, Cape Town 2010, 2010Boston and CLADE V (San Jose, 2012). These five conferences provide a window into the state of world Christianity and contemporary missiology. Missiologist Allen Yeh, the only person to attend all five conferences, chronicles the recent history of world mission through the lenses of these landmark events. He assesses the legacy of Edinburgh 1910 and the development of world Christianity in the following century. Whereas Edinburgh 1910 symbolized Christendom’s mission “from the West to the rest,” the conferences of 2010-2012 demonstrate the new realities of polycentric and polydirectional mission-from everyone to everywhere. Yeh’s accounts of the conferences highlight the crucial missiological issues of our era: evangelism, frontier missions, ecumenism, unengaged and post-Christian populations, reconciliation, postmodernities, contextualization, postcolonialism, migration and more. What emerges is a portrait of a contemporary global Christian mission that encompasses every continent, embodying good news for all nations.
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How To Pioneer
$15.99Add to cartSmall new Christian communities created by pioneer ministers, both lay and ordained, are popping up everywhere – on housing estates, in community centres, schools, cafes, among different age groups and in numerous other contexts beyond the local church. This practical book is for all who are engaged in this form of ministry and it begins by identifying some basic principles from a wide variety of creative examples of pioneer ministry.
Illustrated with actual examples throughout, it explores
-how to ‘listen’ to the physical, social and spiritual environment of a local context
-how to discern a community’s needs and the appropriate missional response
-how to build a creative team
-the art of the start – how to begin well
-how to build relationships and create community by acts of authentic love
-how to become and stay Jesus-centred
-how to live and tell the gospel in meaningful ways
-how to grow disciples
-how to stay fresh (and avoid rotas!) -
3 Simple Rules For Christian Living Leader Guide (Teacher’s Guide)
$14.99Add to cartThis small-group study by Jeanne Torrence Finley is based on Rueben P. Job’s book Three Simple Rules: A Wesleyan Way of Living. Six sessions provide extended reflection for adults on three principles of Christian life: do no harm, do good, and stay in love with God. Each rule has a session to help you understand the rule and a session to help you explore ways to practice the rule. The Leader Guide contains everything needed to guide a group through the 6-week study, including session plans, discussion questions, and other useful information for organizing, leading, and publicizing your study group.
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Introduction To African American Preaching
$38.99Add to cartThis book by Frank A. Thomas serves as an introduction and primer on African American preaching. He sets out to answer six questions: 1) What is the historical study and scholarly treatment of black preaching? The formal study of black preaching matured in the 1990s from Abingdon Press, through the books Black Preaching by Henry Mitchell (Interdenominational Theological Center) and The Hum by Evans Crawford (Howard University). The initial chapter traces how and why black preaching evolved. 2) What is black preaching? What makes black preaching distinctive? What are the substantive methodologies and content of black preaching? Does black preaching include the preaching of the African Diaspora or is it limited to American shores? How does black preaching correlate with the preaching methodologies of other communities, i.e. Euro-American, Latino/Latina, Korean, etc. 3) What are the benchmarks of excellence in black preaching? In every preaching tradition, models and styles or examples emerge based on community recognition and acclaim within the cultural preaching tradition. These models are built on criteria that point to “excellence” in oral practice. The goal in the classroom is to surface conscious and unconscious codes of excellence, which the student can then adapt in a particular congregation. 4) What methods are practiced in African American preaching? Three methods are explored from “folk” and “educated” preaching. Methods of “old-time Negro Preaching,” are compared to the Hegelian method of Samuel DeWitt Proctor and the celebrative preaching method of Henry H. Mitchell, Frank A. Thomas, and Luke Powery. 5) What are the future trends in black preaching? What cultural and media forces are changing black preaching? 6) What are the best bibliographic resources in African American preaching?
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Parish Handbook
$35.99Add to cartA parish church gathers people together from across the community and is a site of resistance against the increasingly atomized and segregated society in which we live. The social and political revolution at the heart of parish life is people learning to relate to each other in the name of Christ.
Making clear that it is ordinary living which is at the heart of parish life, Bob Mayo provides an important and accessible resource for all involved in church leadership. Drawing on a wealth of experience and research, the handbook brings together sociological observation and theological insight to shape sound practical theological reflection. It will appeal to ordinands as much as practicing incumbents. -
Road To Growth
$24.00Add to cartChurch House Publishing
Based on his consultancy experience with churches and dioceses over the last three years and further research on the causes of church growth, Bob Jacksons new book shows how the Church at parish, diocesan and national level can overturn its old cycle of decline and begin a new cycle of growth. At its heart this book is about how local churches can thrive and grow in the early twenty-first century. Part 1 outlines the current context, offering a sharp analysis behind the reasons for church growth and decline. Part 2 describes churches which are already experiencing growth both in numerical and ministry strength. It looks at lessons learnt and what is at the heart of a resurgent, thriving Church. Parts 3 and 4 set out workable strategies and unpacks ways in which human and financial resources can be deployed to support and sustain the growth of the local church. This is not about glib, short-term solutions promising quick results. The goal of this book is to help transform fragile signs of hope for the Church into a solid road to growth.
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Sanar Las Heridas Del Corazon (Teacher’s Guide) – (Spanish) (Teacher’s Guide)
$6.99Add to cartWherever adults suffer, children suffer doubly. This book equips churches and concerned adults to help children recover after traumatic events like war or abuse. It is the leader’s guide for the Healing Hearts Club(TM) program in Spanish, an interactive, story-centered, field-tested model of Bible-based trauma healing that provides vital mental health information for children in a biblical framework.
Using this book, lay leaders work with children aged 9-13 in small groups. Each child receives the companion volume, the CLUB SANANDO CORAZONES HISTORIAS Y ACTIVIDADES (ABS Item 124165-POD, ISBN 9781941448373). This facilitator’s book includes the stories, along with activities, games, memory verses, and clear, comprehensive, and practical guidelines on how to run an effective trauma healing program for children–whether as a week-long camp or in weekly classes. Appendixes provide guidance for working with younger children or with teenagers.
Each of the ten lessons includes a Bible story and a?composite real-life story about the experiences of “Carlos and? Rosa” so children can see the effects of trauma, learn how to work through their emotional and spiritual pain, and experience God’s love for them. The book has been field tested with leaders and children from Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, and independent churches and orphanages.
This book is part of the product line from the Trauma Healing Institute at American Bible Society. It uses the same approach as the adult book, Sanando las Heridas del Corazon. The Institute provides ongoing support for this program, including an online resource packet with supporting material.
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God At Work Cycle A
$12.95Add to cartThe lectionary Gospel readings for the first third of the season after Pentecost (Pentecost Sunday through Proper 12-Cycle A) launch us immediately into a series of teachings by Jesus, many in the form of a parable, about what it means to follow him in the Kingdom of God. Only three of the eight readings, for example, narrate distinct events in the ministry of Jesus. Given the heavy pedagogic emphasis in the other eight lections, it would be easy to treat discipleship as a thing or an object to be studied at a safe, intellectual distance. Nothing could be further from what author Kevin Mohr believes the Holy Spirit wants us to experience as we grapple with these readings. The parables and teachings of Jesus in Matthew, chapters seven through thirteen, illustrate what began at Pentecost: God is at work in the world through those who believe in Jesus Christ. Through these musings the reader might be able to catch enough of a glimpse of God at work to be caught up again into what God is doing in Christ Jesus through his church.
The sermons presented in God At Work are generally more topical or thematic than expository. All of them have been edited from their original context of sermons shared with the people of English Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bluffton, Ohio. But the liveliness and spirit of these messages have not been lost in the editing.
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Pickled Priest And The Perishing Parish
$11.95Add to cartJust as baby boomers comprise the largest generation in America’s history, they also represent the largest percentage of current senior pastors in American churches. Boomer pastors all over the country are struggling to transition from their roots in twentieth-century church culture to ministry and leadership in our challenging twenty-first century–and this transition must take place for traditional churches to be a relevant factor in world redemption.
In The Pickled Priest and the Perishing Parish: Boomer Pastors Bouncing Back, Senior Pastor Hal West, himself a baby boomer, offers essential insights and words of inspiration for pastors, leaders, and Christians who desire to see renewal and transformation in their churches, in America, and in themselves.
The challenges facing traditional churches and the boomer pastors who lead them are many– not the least of which are pastors’ ensconced perspective of their own spiritual formation, theological training, and experience. In his unique, conversational, and at times humorous tone, Pastor Hal West first offers proof through his own -pickled- perspective and then explores, with help from the lessons of biblical prophets like Isaiah and Nehemiah, how boomer pastors can and must bounce back.
Change is challenging, but in our day of cultural conflict, political corruption, and spiritual crisis, change is imperative. It falls to church leaders, regardless of their decades of experience in ministry and leadership, to approach transformation with an open mind and provide guidance, vision, and restoration to their churches and the souls they serve. -
Preaching The Luminous Word
$37.99Add to cartInsights from one of the most distinctive and eloquent scholar-preachers of our time Inviting serious theological engagement with texts from all parts of the Christian Bible, Preaching the Luminous Word offers fifty-one engaging sermons from noted preacher Ellen F. Davis. A brief preface sets each sermon in its geographic and liturgical context, highlights distinctive themes, and draws attention to elements of structure and rhetorical style. The sermons are arranged in canonical order and cover a wide scope of texts – Torah, Prophets, Writings (including Psalms, Proverbs, Lamentations, Song of Songs, and Job), Gospels, Epistles, and Revelation. Also included in the volume are five choice essays by Davis that discuss various aspects of biblical preaching. At once accessible, theologically informed, and richly instructive, these sermons will engage Christian readers at any stage of their faith journey.
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E-Giving Guide For Every Church
$12.99Add to cartThe purpose of this book is to help churches raise more money for ministry and mission by better using electronic media. Although philanthropy in the US is growing, churches continue to receive a declining portion of that philanthropy. Part of the challenge is that America is becoming significantly less dependent on paper currency (cash and checks) yet the church continues to count on paper currency as their primary media for donations. There have been warning signals for several years. Many churches face shrinking budgets and membership and are beginning to ask the right questions. The author’s goal is to capture this teachable moment with a resource that will encourage pastors and church leaders to utilize tools already available to change the trajectory of their resourcing; because nothing is more important than what God has called them to do. The banking and electronic giving industries have not made it easy for churches to understand their services or fees. This book will take the confusion and fear away and open churches to new possibilities.
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Funding Ministry With Five Loaves And Two Fishes
$18.99Add to cartThis book is for any pastor, church planter or lay leader struggling to do ministry with a lack of financial resources but hungry to reach the lost with the Good News of Jesus Christ. Clergy are trained to preach, teach, and lead a congregation in spiritual matters. However, it has become increasingly alarming that there is no training for clergy when it comes to the “business” matters of the church in regards to finances, debt reduction, fundraising, and building maintenance. The added and sometimes unexpected load for clergy can become cumbersome and extremely stressful. In addition, the decline of the church and the passing of key funders of churches leave many pastors with dying churches and few resources to do anything about it. Rosario Picardo has been in this very position starting a church in a movie theater with no people and very little financial support and revitalizing a dying congregation in a deteriorating physical structure. Through trials and failures, new creative ways of doing ministry and entrepreneurial thinking, God provided, and Picardo learned new ways for reaching the least and lost and growing disciples. In Funding Ministry with Five Loaves and Two Fishes, Picardo shares the lessons he’s learned with confidence that the Church is not dead; it’s just time for a new wineskin.
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Training Missionaries : Principles And Possibilities
$25.99Add to cartMissionaries must know God, be able to relate well to other people, understand and engage with another culture, and be able to use the Bible in a way that informs all aspects of their lives and ministries. Missionary training must address each of these areas if it is to help Christians to be effective in taking the gospel to the ends of the earth. Effective training has been shown to prevent people from prematurely leaving the field. It also reduces the danger of cross-cultural workers uncritically exporting culturally bound forms of Christianity. This book details four key areas that every missionary training program, whatever its context, must focus on developing. It shows how these can be holistically addressed in a learning community where trainers and trainees engage in cross-cultural ministry together.
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Professional Guidelines For Christian English Teachers
$17.99Add to cart“This handbook is for people in the field of English language teaching who are looking for practical ways to be both committed followers of Jesus and ethical TESOL professionals. What do such teachers actually do in the classroom? What materials do they use? How do they relate to their students and colleagues in and outside the classroom? How can they treat students as whole people, with spiritual and religious identities? How can they set a high bar for ethical teaching? Professional Guidelines for Christian English Teachers has grown out of Kitty Purgason’s experience as a Christian seeking to follow the Great Commandment and the Great Commission, as a practitioner with a deep concern for excellence and integrity, and as a teacher trainer with experience in many parts of the world.”
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Choosing To Be Grateful Cycle A
$12.95Add to cartIn this latest collection of Cycle A gospel sermons for Pentecost (last third), Albert Butzer shows that we Christians live our lives with one leg in the ancient and sacred world of the Bible and the other leg in our modern, scientific world. The job of the preacher is to make holy sense of the intersection of these two worlds. It is a great honor and a sacred responsibility to do this, as well as a weekly lesson in humility.
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Lectionary Preaching Workbook Series 10 Cycle A
$59.95Add to cartDavid Bales’ latest Lectionary Preaching Workbook: Series X, Cycle A invites teachers of the word to peer deep beneath the pages of scripture to consider broader perspectives and messages. Bales presents themes, summaries, exegesis, and a prayer, in each lectionary day, as resources to guide sermon development, always attempting to expose preachers to different perspectives and deeper knowledge.
As Bales carefully unpacks his thoughts upon each selected scripture passage, he combines his personal ideas with the time-tested analysis of other great Christian thinkers, resulting in a thoughtful and critical exposition on God’s word. This unique style empowers pastors to engage with God’s word, and the end result is a resource that will equip congregations to be challenged through a deliberate, well-informed message.
Written specifically as a preaching resource for Cycle A, the Lectionary Preaching Workbook will benefit any student of the word, and can be used for sermon starters, adult study groups, and individual Bible study.
Each chapter includes:
Revised Common Lectionary texts for the day
Scripture references and intensive exposition
Theme analysis and narrative illustration
Citation attributions to various apologists, teachers, and authors
A pastoral prayer -
Sanar Las Heridas Del Corazon – (Spanish)
$7.99Add to cartThis book offers a practical approach to engaging the Bible and mental health principles to find God’s healing for wounds of the heart. This provides a strong foundation for restored lives and relationships.
It is a resource for leaders in churches and NGOs who care for people who have suffered horrific events like war, civil unrest, ethnic conflict, rape, and natural disasters. It will also help individuals struggling with suffering. It provides core mental health principles within a biblical framework, an approach that has been field tested since 2001 with leaders from Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, and independent churches. It has been adapted into more than 150 languages and cultures around the world.
It is designed for use in groups and written in simple and non-technical language. Each lesson begins with a story depicting its topic, followed by discussion questions and participatory exercises. The book includes 270 Bible references from 217 passages.
This is the core book of the Trauma Healing Institute at American Bible Society.
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Work Of A Disciple
$19.99Add to cartThe Walking with God series was developed as the curriculum for small groups at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois. Since its release in 1992, it has been used by churches and small groups to help raise up devoted disciples of Christ. Group members who work through the program will lay a solid foundation for a lifelong walk with God.
While small groups may be formed for a variety of purposes, the goal of this curriculum is for groups to produce disciples-fully devoted followers of Christ-by studying God’s Word in community. To this end, the goal of the study is to produce disciples who walk with God, have a personal relationship with Jesus, and live in step with the Holy Spirit. It is also to produce believers who live the Word in all areas of life and contribute to the work that God is doing in the local church. Ultimately, the goal is to develop believers who impact the world and are prepared and eager to spread the good news of Christ to others.
This material will help develop these attributes in group members. Each lesson includes group Bible study and discussion questions in addition to devotions, reflections, and personal study for use by individuals between the group sessions.
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Surprise Surprise Surprise Cycle A
$12.95Add to cartBut What Of Lazarus? (John 11:1-45)
For The Glow Of It (Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21)
Friday (John 18:1-19:42)
Learning To Walk In The Dark And Remembering The Dark Is As Day To God (Matthew 26:14– 27:66)
Nicodemus Came By Night (John 3:1-17)Additional Info
Two voices, fourteen sermons…The lives of David and Marian Plant have been intertwined for 46 years, their mutual ministries, for even longer. Their voices were shaped by their ministry experiences that began together in shared, co-pastorate positions, and then matured into individual settled ministry positions and then again, moved into their own specialties of the last 20 years: Marian, in the teaching ministry and David in the interim and church revitalization ministry. Marian’s voice is one practiced well from a traditional setting of pulpit with written text in hand. David’s voice is one practiced in a relational style of informal conversation, often done without notes, and in back and forth dialogue with the gathered worshipers.
Their latest work, Surprise! Surprise! Surprise! provides fourteen cycle A gospel sermons for Lent/Easter. In these sermons you will see the mix of the lives of the Plants, committed to social justice, the important context of the role of the church as that which speaks for Christ, and the importance of the need for individuals to take up the challenge of living their faith more fully. There is no doubt that their mutual passions for addressing the ills befalling our culture and our world were foremost on their minds, and they could not but help influence one another’s work by virtue of their lives lived in the practice of ministry and marriage. They offer these words to you, as colleagues in ministry, even if only a sentence is valuable to you.
